Nothing Personal: A Review of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 Episode 20

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back with another episode that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. Only two more episodes left until the season is over! Who knows how it will all go down in the end.

*Post contains spoilers*

The end of last episode left the team a little scattered. The majority of the team arrived back at base only to find everyone else missing. Ward and Skye headed out to decrypt the hard drive while May was on the hunt for Maria Hill. First lets talk about May. In DC May finally runs into Hill. Maria has since started working for Stark but it still being questioned by a number of different government agencies. May confronts Hill about all the secrets they have been keeping and is hunting for who was behind the T.A.H.I.T.I. project. Fury had said that he buried that information. May heads off to solve Fury’s riddle.

Back at the base the rest of the team tries to figure out what has happened to the rest of the team. After finding a number of different clues they find out the hard truth. Ward has been a Hydra agent this whole time and has taken Skye. They can tell that Skye is trying to play him but it is only a matter of time before she will need backup. Right as the team gets ready to leave the base is breached. They are confused as special forces troops pour into the base. Talbot along with Hill have come for Coulson’s team. Maria has cut a deal with Talbot and she is advising Coulson to do the same. That is until she finds out about Ward. With her help Coulson and the others are able to get out of there and leave to rescue Skye.

Skye tells Ward that the gps lock on the hard drive can only be unlocked at the diner that she first met Mike Peterson in. They get there and the audience can see that it is not the right location but Skye is able to play it off for quite some time. Ward starts to grow impatient and worried has a number of police officers start to show up around the place. It is here that Skye tells him that she knows about him and that she tipped off the police. She uses them to try to get away and while is able to get away from Ward, Deathlok shows up and takes her in. She later wakes up on the plane only to have Ward try to defend himself.

Now I was upset with Ward for working for Hydra but after this episode the character sickens me. Which means the staff on the show has done a fantastic job. Ward tells Skye that is was nothing personal and that this is just what he does. He is a spy and this was just another job. However his feelings for her are real. He comes off as a psycho boyfriend type. Like those kids were being mean to you so I killed them for you, now don’t you love me? When he is unable to get Skye to talk Deathlok steps in. When Skye still refuses to give up the information, Deathlok attacks Ward and stops his heart. Skye must choose between Ward and keeping quiet. In the end she talks. I hope it is just because she knows she isn’t a killer and Ward deserves worse than that. She tells them that the gps unlocks at an altitude not a location. As they take off Coulson sneaks on board the plane to rescue her.

His plan was to get Skye and take out Ward, but that was before he found out Deathlok was on the plane. The two of them are able to escape in Lola, Coulson’s flying car. While Skye is now safe, the hard drive was unlocked. The team lies low at a motel and figures out their next move. Before Hill leaves she tells Coulson the hard truth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone. She understands his need to go after Ward and Garrett but there will be no backup. It makes you wonder how they will continue to have a show called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. if there is no S.H.I.E.L.D. The team relaxes for the first time in forever and just takes in the fact that right now they are all safe and sound. Skye tells Coulson that she left a trap on the hard drive for Hydra but we don’t know what it will do.

Coulson returns to his room to find that May has returned. She found a flash drive hidden in Coulson’s grave. It has a message from the director of T.A.H.I.T.I. to Fury. As it turns out the director is actually Coulson! It is a message saying that he is stepping down from the project because he feels the risk outweighs the reward. The project started as a way to heal wounded Avengers but it had terrible side effects. It seemed the only way a person could stabilize is if they had implanted memories and forgot the whole thing. However even that wasn’t a 100% fix. Now we are left to wonder, Skye and Coulson seem fine right now. So did something happen between Coulson leaving and now?

Like I said before, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. only has two episodes in the season and a lot of questions that need answered. Like how will they be agents if there is no S.H.I.E.L.D. !